Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Jim Kelly: No QB in draft is worth eighth overall pick

The chance of his potential replacement joining the team through a first round pick, however, has gotten much murkier. (photo: goddam, Flickr)

Though the Bills’ stance on acquiring a quarterback this offseason hasn’t changed, its glaring need at other positions has gotten some attention. One of those positions is linebacker, where the team recently released veteran leader Nick Barnett and is now lacking depth and leadership.
While speaking on the John Murphy Show on Wednesday, former Buffalo star Jim Kelly mentioned both linebacker and wide receiver as key weak spots for the team moving forward, and he also had some insight into how strong he thinks the new quarterback class is.

“I don’t think there’s a quarterback in the draft right now who is worthy of the eighth pick of the draft,” Kelly said. “But we need linebackers, we’d love to have another big time wide receivers, we need depth. Eighth pick, that’s pretty high.”

While this year may not be the strongest of years for quarterbacks in the draft, that doesn't mean that some aren't still garnering a vote for a first-round pick. ESPN’s draft duo of Mel Kiper and Todd McShay are split on Buffalo’s eight overall pick, with Kiper going with Georgia linebacker Alec Ogletree and McShay sticking with quarterback in Geno Smith of West Virginia.

Kelly was sure to note that any quarterback that does come into Buffalo is going to have thick skin to be successful, as well as a strong arm.

“Personally, I think you need a guy who’s a little feisty," he said. "You have to have somebody who’s got a strong arm, coming here to Buffalo. Thick skin—because if you don’t make it work you’re going to hear about it … This is not Miami, this is not Tampa, this is not a dome team, we play upstate, so you have to have a strong arm.”